City Grant Recipients

July 2019 - June 2020

The City Renewal Authority awarded almost $300,000 in funding for events, activations and community building projects across eleven projects.

City Grants are funded through the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy - paid by commercial land owners in the city centre - and are managed by the City Renewal Authority. Another grants round for smaller grants will open later in 2019 for projects taking place in the first half of 2020.

Applicant name

Project Title

Project description

Total Amount Awarded

Canberra India Council

World Curry Festival

The Canberra India Council presents a two day food festival in the city including curries from different regions, cultural performances, a chilli eating competition, and games. This is the World Curry Festival’s fifth year of operation.

$50,000

You Are Here Canberra Incorporated

You Are Here Festival 2019.

You Are Here Canberra Incorporated will hold a three-day showcase of Canberra's experimental art that will invite the community to interact with the city in innovative ways. The artists from a variety of disciplines will be selected from You Are Here's 2019 Artist Development Program. They will embed the unique nature of specific city spaces into their work.

$50,000

Craft ACT

DESIGN Canberra 2019

Craft ACT will transform Civic Square into DESIGN Canberra’s dedicated event hub during the festival. This involves talks, entertainment, performances, art, wellness and creative ideas over the three weeks. A site-specific design installation commission for Civic Square is also included in the proposal.

$50,000

Ms Peita Blythe

Mapping Canberra

Ms Peita Blythe will develop a narrative map and translate this into a large mural, which will be unveiled during the DESIGN Canberra festival. The map will identify creative businesses and points of interest in Civic, alongside iconic landmarks. This map will also be translated into a digital and printed resource.

$10,000

The Canberra SpringOUT Association

The SpringOUT Big Community Picnic 2019

The Canberra SpringOUT Association will put its grant funding towards an all-day community picnic in Glebe Park on Sunday 24 November for the SpringOUT 2019 Festival’s 20th anniversary celebration. This will “turn the park rainbow” with colourful curation, plus community games like Tug-O-War and handbag toss. Local and interstate performers will entertain, including the Canberra Qwire, the Canberra Uke band, drummers, and drag kings and queens. There will be a family activity area with arts and crafts, a jumping castle, face painting and storytelling.

$9,100

CIT

Orange Wolves multi-disciplinary audience immersive experience

A three-day art and design event within the levy area, which will feature six retired Transport Canberra buses transformed into small cinemas, music venues, fashion runways, maker spaces, and installation spaces. It aims to provide an immersive experience including music, media, arts, fashion, technology and design. The buses will be transformed using the skills and resources of CIT departments.

$50,000

Canberra Comedy Festival

Canberra Comedy Festival 2020 - Festival Square

Civic Square will be transformed into “Festival Square” during the Canberra Comedy Festival, with marquees, hangout areas and free outdoor comedy events during one week in March 2020. “Festival Square” proved popular in 2018 and 2019, and enlivened the cultural precinct through a non-ticketed outdoor set-up and program.

$43,200

Salvation Army Canberra City

CBRtalks: a community listening project

The Salvation Army Canberra City will run a conversation project called #CBRtalks. This is a social initiative that aims to engage people in intentional, inclusive listening in public spaces and foster social cohesion and connection through storytelling. They will design a “curious and cosy”’ mobile space that moves throughout the levy area. This will be supported by a temporary pop-up (City Walk shopfront) containing an art installation, which will include photos taken of people who have participated in the community listening activities.

$10,000

The Canberra Dance Theatre

Playing Up - a series of weekday dance performances and a weekend flash mob

The Canberra Dance Theatre will hold a series of weekday dance performances and a weekend flash mob. ‍On weekdays, dancers will activate parts of the City West Arts Precinct at lunchtime and at close of business (about 5pm). On the weekend, a flash mob will perform in City Walk, starting with just a couple of dancers and growing to a large intergenerational and inclusive group.

$5,500

Charles Darwin University Foundation

Language Party

Charles Darwin University Foundation will hold a live storytelling event that brings together Canberra’s oldest and newest languages, as part of the Aikuma Project. This tested storytelling format will bring storytellers from various Indigenous cultures, including Ngunnawal, to Civic to celebrate the 2019 UN International Year of Indigenous Languages. The stories will be told in Indigenous languages and these will be interpreted into English for the audience to celebrate the Indigenous wisdom that is still available to us today.

$7,647

Braddon Town Team

Braddon Busking Festival

The Braddon Town Team will hold a one-day festival in Braddon celebrating Canberra’s busking talent, with the objective of creating an annual festival. Buskers will compete for prizes and entry into the National Busking Festival in Cooma.

$10,000

2019 Round One

January - May 2019

The City Renewal Authority has awarded $156,000 in grants to eight recipients, who are listed in the table below. Over the next six months City Grants will help activate and improve the city centre with events, a research project and an urban treasure hunt.

City Grants are funded through the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy - paid by commercial land owners in the city centre - and are managed by the City Renewal Authority. Another grants round will open soon for projects taking place next financial year.

Applicant name

Project Title

Total Amount Awarded

Altina Drinks

Mindful drinking in Canberra City

$9,800

Joga Yoga

Summer stretch in the city: free lunch time yoga sessions

$9,500

Baha Agency

HEAT Latin Fiesta Festival 2019

$17,500

The Dionysus Movement Pty Ltd

Soul Defender

$79,360

Lakespeare & Co.

Shakespeare by the Lakes II

$10,000

Fully Rad Adventures

Canberra City Hustle - Urban Treasure Hunt

$10,000

Canberra Comedy Festival

Canberra Comedy Festival - outdoor entertainment

$10,000

Ms Claire Granata

People Lab

$9,760.32

2018 Round Two

July-December 2018

The City Renewal Authority has awarded $200,000 in grants to 11 recipients, who are listed in the table below. Over the next six months City Grants will help activate and improve the city centre with a diverse range of events and activations.

City Grants are funded through the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy - paid by commercial land owners in the city centre - and are managed by the City Renewal Authority. Another grants round will open soon for projects taking place next financial year.

2018 Round One

April-June 2018

The City Renewal Authority has awarded $173,164 in grants to 12 recipients, who are listed in the table below. Over the next three months City Grants will help activate and improve the city centre with six events, three installations, a research project, an accessibility education campaign and a new public art mural.

City Grants are funded through the City Centre Marketing and Improvements Levy - paid by commercial land owners in the city centre - and are managed by the City Renewal Authority. Another grants round will open soon for projects taking place next financial year.

Applicant name

Project Title

Total Amount Awarded

Planning Institute of Australia ACT Young Planners

ACT Young Planners Pop-up Parklet

$5,000.00

Reload Bar and Games & Treehouse Bar

Loaded Laneway

$19,773.00

byrd

light in dark places mural

$5,000.00

Good Content*

Good Content vacant space artist showcase

$3,910.00

Distaffik Collective

Treeology

$5,000.00

Miss Karina Bontes Forward

Poets for Breakfast

$5,000.00

Trove Canberra

World Wide Knit in Public Day.

$2,500.00

Wesley Music Foundation

One Sunday in the City

$5,000.00

GetAboutAble Pty Ltd

Accessible Canberra

$5,000.00

University of Canberra

Evaluation and Community Engagement Suite of Research Tools for Activations in the City